The last pillar of apartheid has come crashing down, and South Africa is starting to build itself into a new nation. But, despite the optimistic talk from both Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk, the task will not be easy and the outcome remains almost as cloudy as it was before the new constitution was ratified this week.
In his address to the country's multi-partied legislators, de Klerk invoked the image of the Great Trek - an image dear to Afrikaners and repugnant to nonwhites. At the gathering, legislators of mixed blood and others sat through the playing of the national anthem, causing one spectator to become so incensed he had to be removed from the chamber. This was supposed to be South Africa's shining moment. It was cheapened by the name-calling and petty antics of a vocal minority.The antics of the few show how the disaffected individuals of all races will try to affect the outcome of next April's elections. How de Klerk and Mandela manage the disaffected will determine South Africa's future. If the extremism on all sides turns violent, the new South Africa may not resemble either man's vision.
Mandela's African National Congress holds a 3-to-1 lead over de Klerk's National Party. Sheer numbers suggest Mandela will replace de Klerk as president. What the two leaders must do is hold the middle ground together. They need to campaign to elect a 400-member National Assembly and 90-member Senate that is forward-thinking, not mired in past hatreds. They need to quash the urge among some to carve up South Africa into segregated homelands.
Extremists on all sides are likely to try to spread their message first in words, then through fear and intimidation, and finally through violence. De Klerk and Mandela need to remind all South Africans that a campaign is neither a slugfest nor a gang war. Both men need to campaign vigorously against violence - in all its forms.
Nation-building is a job for statesmen, but two men cannot do it by themselves. The visions de Klerk and Mandela have for their new nation, while maybe different as the two who have them, need to be something all South Africans can believe in and work toward. If South Africa remains a racially divided nation, it will be because fear and hatred are stronger than freedom.